Lucknow: In a bid to generate employment for women and increase the reach of its phenol in all parts of the city, Lucknow Municipal Corporation has decided to increase the production of “Gonyle” from 1,000 per litre to 1 lakh litre per month.

The civic body in its pilot project in May 2019 decided to manufacture phenol using gomutra — a.k.a. cow urine — at its bovine shelter home known as Kanha Upwan. At first, the civic body was only using the phenol in its headquarters and zonal offices. However, with its increase in demand in some of the private as well as government hospitals, LMC has already started supplying the phenol to several hospitals.

LMC chief veterinary officer Arvind Rao said, “With increase in demand from some the markets in the city, we are making provisions to increase the production of ‘Gonyle’. At present, we are producing about 1,000 litre a month and we are targeting for 1 lakh litre per month. The move is also set to generate employment for rural women, we are planning to hire as many as 200 workers. The cost of one litre ‘Gonyle’ is between Rs 35 to 40, while the cheapest phenol available in the market with same quality costs Rs 50-55.”

The municipal corporation has already purchased a machine from Bengaluru based private agency at a cost of Rs2.5 lakh, machine installed by LMC is used for mixing all the ingredients used in the process of making phenyl.

In order to produce the phenyl, cow urine is passed through the process of fractional distillation and condensation in order to obtain the extract known as “Gomutra Ark”. Later on the extract is mixed with pine oil, citronella and fragrance in different proportions. In a litre of phenyl 90% pine oil, 7% Gomutra Ark, 2% Citronella and 1% fragrance is added.